If you're a Dead Head, chances are you've spent many an hour expounding upon the distinction of May 8, 1977, Cornell University, Barton Hall. Well, at the risk of preaching to the choir, we'd like to reintroduce you to a series of shows that matches said greatness from that same gloriously fertile season. While Barton Hall is well known, the astounding tour that surrounded it has occasionally flown under the radar due to the uneven quality of tapes in circulation. May 1977 is set to change all of that with a boxed set that zeroes in on this high-water mark in the Grateful Dead's long strange trip.

For a band resurrecting itself after a 20-month hiatus, there was a great frenzy of expectancy that surrounded the Spring of 1977. We anticipate a grand reoccurrence of this fervor with the release of May 1977, a 14-disc boxed set featuring five complete shows from consecutive stops on that magical tour. Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering, the "psychoacoustic phenomena" as Jerry once put it, of St. Paul Civic Center Arena, St. Paul, MN (5/11) Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL (5/12, 5/13), St. Louis Arena, St. Louis MO (5/15) and Coliseum at the University Of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (5/17) can now finally be appreciated. Each of these shows finds the Dead delivering punchier, more focused sets, tightening up the framework; each night turning out first-ever renditions ("Passenger,""Iko Iko,""Jack-A-Roe"), unloading potent new pairings ("Scarlet Begonias">"Fire On The Mountain", "Estimated Prophet">"Eyes Of The World"), classic covers ("Dancing In The Street") and soon-to-be staples ("Estimated Prophet," "Samson and Delilah"), and ultimately rising up to paradise.

And now for the nitty-gritty...

Due June 11, May 1977 is limited to 15,000 individually numbered copies. Presented in a psychedelic box that boasts an intricate die-cut design created by Grammy®-winning graphic artist Masaki Koike, the set also includes a book filled with stories about each show, as well as an in-depth essay by Dead historian Steve Silberman, who delves deep into the history behind the tour and the band’s return from its extended hiatus.

Once these 15,000 boxes are gone, May 1977 and its shows will never be available again on CD. However, the 111 tracks will be made available on release date as FLAC and Apple lossless full-set-only downloads for $99.98.

Like its predecessors Europe '72: The Complete Recordings and Spring 1990, we expect May 1977 to sell out. Your best bet is to pre-order it now, then sit back, relax, and enjoy all the exclusive content we'll be rolling out over the next few weeks right here and on Facebook.com/GratefulDead and Youtube.com/gratefuldead.

May 1977 Show By Show

Take a closer look inside of our numbered, limited-edition boxed set May 1977 with listening parties, videos, artwork and more from each featured show.

As the sets roll off the line, someone stacks them on a pallet. He begins with #1 which he places in the first layer (naturally), at the back left-hand side. Eventually #15000 arrives and he stacks that on the top layer, front, right-hand side. The pallet is then sent to the Dead's corporate world headquarters where someone unloads them and packs them up ready for despatch. He starts with the top layer at the front (high numbers) and works his way down. According to this theory, the last person to successfully order a set will be the lucky recipient of set #1 - or more likely set #2 as someone pinched set #1 to use in the picture at the top of this very page. So now you know!

I inquired about this, and to make a long story short, by the time the box sets have made their way through the various points on the distribution chain, the numbers are well and truly shuffled, multiple times.

My set just arrived (11267/15000) and I am loading it into iTunes. The sound is impeccable!

My question.......are the box numbers determined randomly or is there some rhyme or reason as to how the numbers are determined. The reason I ask is b/c I ordered on May 14th and there were well over 5000 left. Just curious why my box number doesn't reflect it. It's no big deal at all but I was just curious how the numbers are determined........thank you Dead.net and Rhino for an amazing release!

The set is excellent. Sound is superior. One small complaint. Why is the crowd noise so low? It almost sounds like they are playing in a studio. It's always nice to hear the reaction of the crowd after a song. Like I said, small complaint.

box received on fri and 5 shows filled the weekend perfectly, i think the sound is incredible, i too noticed a little surprising (for a soundboard) ambient hall reverb sound on the vox during some short passages including the first song from the st paul show but all instruments are extremely well balanced as expected from a BB

im not familiar with the extended dr beachwood comments that were apparently edited but i did miss some of the pre song noodling prior to both estimated and ship of fools that i am used to from the st louis show, im not complaing, 5/15/77 was a fairly early entry to my tape collection during a year i lived in st louis (83/84), its inclusion in the set was tipping point for this pre-hiatus fan to take this 77 plunge, and glad i did, even with the heavy repetition of a few tunes i found each show unique and fairly inspriational

while the physical product was designed with a few impracticalities built in (size, tracklists buried etc)... i have to say it is a beautiful work of art and i'll figure out where/how to keep it, because of the fact that its appearance can change depending on which shows are visible through the window it reminds me a bit of led zep III and in the through the out door packages

i was just surprised BJ's notes refered to bob's bertha china cat lick as somewhat subtle as if he wasn't sure everyone would agree it was there

finally... the newspaper clippings and reviews were priceless, a wide range of views of the GD's quality were presented, not just extreme love or hate but lukewarm acceptance of their music was also expressed seemingly disproving jerry's licorice comment, even the one that pretty much tore them a new one begrudgingly admitted that there were some worthwhile moments

I was away for a week and was very happy to find this package at home yesterday. I haven't had the chance to delve into the music yet, but I have to say the packaging is top-notch. I can't think of a more beautiful box set. There are no repro memorabilia items, thankfully. I love the book -- sublime cosmic context by Steve Silberman really makes it classy. Of course, Blair Jackson adds his fine dissection of each show, and points the way to some highlights. Is the packaging worth the extra 40 bucks compared to the download? Probably not. Still, it is awfully nice, even if it won't fit on my CD shelf.

next time, please don't shorten the stage banter...i imagine it was a timing issue, but it was no fun to find the "doctor" roll call cut short...only complaint i can think of with the box set since the music is so damn great

Weir was, and always has been, an underrated player. There are several possible explanations for that, but there it is.

Someone here posted about the "China Cat tease" he plays during Bertha on 5/12. Blair, in his typically wonderful liner notes, makes the same observation and speculates it could be Bob longing for a return of China Cat to the fold, which is an odd thing for someone like Blair to say, given his knowledge of the music.

That signature China Cat lick is something that Bob played on many tunes -- before, during and after 77 -- and always (as far as I am aware) during Jerry's solo. Bertha, GDTRFB, Fire and Franklin's are, if I had to guess, where he did it the most, but I don't think they are the only places.

Further to the observation that Bobby was an underrated guitar player in this era, the late Robert Lansing played on some of the Heaven Help the Fool sessions, which featured several of the best LA session musicians of the time. One day I asked Lansing what he thought of Weir's guitar playing. His answer: "Best player in the room."

I posted this on comments section for the may 15th show, but then noticed nobody has posted there since May, so I'm reporting it here:

Thanks for another great release!!

I really love having these special boxed sets to go with the music. The accompanying booklets with documentation, like reprints of newspaper reviews (some are hysterically funny) are a lot of fun to have.

I did notice what appears to be an error (not a typo) in Blair Jackson's account of the show on May 15. He says, about Estimated->Eyes, "but the one that opens the second set in St. Louis marks the first instance the two songs were joined..." But, unless I'm mistaken, the show in Boston on May 7th has an Estimated->Eyes, and I'm not even sure that one is the first. Maybe he meant the first one on an official release?

No matter, I always very much enjoy Blair's contributions to the releases - please keep it up!!!

I posted this on comments section for the may 15th show, but then noticed nobody has posted there since May, so I'm reporting it here:

Thanks for another great release!!

I really love having these special boxed sets to go with the music. The accompanying booklets with documentation, like reprints of newspaper reviews (some are hysterically funny) are a lot of fun to have.

I did notice what appears to be an error (not a typo) in Blair Jackson's account of the show on May 15. He says, about Estimated->Eyes, "but the one that opens the second set in St. Louis marks the first instance the two songs were joined..." But, unless I'm mistaken, the show in Boston on May 7th has an Estimated->Eyes, and I'm not even sure that one is the first. Maybe he meant the first one on an official release?

No matter, I always very much enjoy Blair's contributions to the releases - please keep it up!!!

I posted this on comments section for the may 15th show, but then noticed nobody has posted there since May, so I'm reporting it here:

Thanks for another great release!!

I really love having these special boxed sets to go with the music. The accompanying booklets with documentation, like reprints of newspaper reviews (some are hysterically funny) are a lot of fun to have.

I did notice what appears to be an error (not a typo) in Blair Jackson's account of the show on May 15. He says, about Estimated->Eyes, "but the one that opens the second set in St. Louis marks the first instance the two songs were joined..." But, unless I'm mistaken, the show in Boston on May 7th has an Estimated->Eyes, and I'm not even sure that one is the first. Maybe he meant the first one on an official release?

No matter, I always very much enjoy Blair's contributions to the releases - please keep it up!!!

So far I have only listened to 5/11 and 5/12....I'm savoring and taking it slow. What an incredible release. What can I say? I just love 1977 GD.

Thus far the sound on 5/11 is astounding and 5/12 is no slouch either, except that 5/12 has a degree of inconsistency in spots. I love the fact that you can really hear Bobby in this mix. It really heightens the awareness of just how underrated a guitar player Bobby was back then. On 5/12, particularly love his little China Cat tease on the opening of Bertha. Very difficult little riffs indeed.

I mentioned previously the sound on 5/12 was lacking a bit and maybe was due to the hall... Well 5/17 is a thing of beauty. Sound is perfect and love that you can hear the audience clearly between tracks. The Half-Step is a monster and Jerry is in rare form. Scarlet > Fire also fantastic and you can hear the power that Jerry and the band are putting into this performance. So... So... Good!

Best Father's Day present ever.
#9292 arrived Friday - all tracks ripped and artwork scanned (I actually scanned the inside sleeve which contained the show date and location).
I am through the first 3 shows so far and all I can say is kudos to all involved with this project!
The sound is great and the energy is infectious.
Thanks to Dave for the individual show videos - coupled with Blair's liner notes you really get a sense of just how special this run of shows truly is.
Only down point is very minor, but I have the same issue as Patagonian Fox with the last Tuscaloosa disc.
All in all though,this box is worth every penny!

i'm glad i got this box. I have listened to St. Paul show so far-3 times! I will get to the next ones but I am really loving this show. Sound and mix are absolutely tremendous. Thanks to all involved in bringing this to reality.

I remember hearing an old joke on "Car Talk" about Tuscaloosa Alabama. The punchline had something to do with elephants and how their "tusks are looser" in Alabama. Anyhoo, I am mesmerized by this show. Surely, surely this is the greatest show from 1977 !(?).

For some reason no CD TEXT on 77 box set. ( nr last Dave's pick). All other boxes and most all Dicks and Dave's picks had CD NAME and All CD TRACKS burned into cd. Is it just my 77 Box set? If not why would they do this?

For some reason no CD TEXT on 77 box set. ( nr last Dave's pick). All other boxes and most all Dicks and Dave's picks had CD NAME and All CD TRACKS burned into cd. Is it just my 77 Box set? If not why would they do this?

I just started listening to this beautiful set. I think everyone who has dived into this has realized who this Jeffrey Norman guy is. He is the right man for the job. Sounds incredible to my ears. This has made my summer and will be played all summer long. Good choice Dave. Release all of 77, and while you are at it release all of 70, and 71, and 72, and 73, and 74, and 76, and 78 and have that Jeffrey Norman guy master them.

My box arrived last night. I was watching for the UPS truck all day! It was too late to crank up the tunes but I sat and read the complete booklet and highly enjoyed it. It helps me to remember just what it was like 36 years ago. After all, I forget that some of these tunes, like Passenger, had never been played before in concert. I was at the second show of this tour, Springfield, MA., that was a couple of weeks before these shows. But that one was excellent as well and we got a great Scarlet > Fire and Estimated Profit. That tune instantly entered by Top 10 GD songs and remains there today. So it was good to remember that it was new at the time of these shows. The box and cd cases are beautiful for sure. Would I have preferred them to be a bit smaller, like the Winterland boxes, sure, but you can't please everyone. I would rather have Rhino err on the side of too much instead of too little. I listened to the St. Paul show today and it is banging! I will listen to these in chronological order and would not even consider listening to them any other way. After all, isn't that the idea of this release? Total cost to me with shipping & taxes was $161. I think it was well worth it! I realize that not everyone cannot afford that much, but if you can, it is money well spent. I have bought everything that is released except for the E72 which I just could not afford at the time. I think we Heads should be very Grateful for all of the music that Rhino & DL are making available. If you do not want to buy a particular release, pass on it, but do not then complain to everyone about it. Take what you want and leave what you don't. Me? I'll take everything I can afford. I am a 70's fan for sure but I love Brent and I hope the next box is something in the 80's to please those folks and to mix it up a bit. Rock on!

The box arrived on Thursday, and I was able to crack it open late last night. The LE numbering fates granted me #820! Amazing! IMHO, the box itself is a very cool departure from the typical CD box sets. My first show was at NYC's Palladium later on this tour, so this era is very special to me. The concert sound is truly exceptional; detailed with a very realistic soundstage - for those that speak Audiophile. I really felt transported back to that place so long ago! Fantastic job guys!!

Downloads? Yes, when necessary but there is nothing like the 'real thing,'the physical media to hold and marvel at.

This BoxSet is as hot as Olivia Newton John in her prime! Now there's is something you do not see every day: Olivia Newton John's name in a Grateful Dead thread! But hey, the Good Ole' GD even went disco for two weeks around "Go to Heaven."

Physical, physical is the best way to go if you can spend the money and this May 77 is continuing proof of it. I am impressed, and if an architect is impressed with the design, then all the better.

#3065 arrived in New York City today and I find it an absolute beauty to behold.

The sound is spectacular so very special thanks to all involved, both back then and now.

I look forward to the next release and Furthur at the Barclay's Center in July. God Bless Bob! Heal brother, Heal! You will 'slam-dunk' this summer!

...has landed! Arrived today, actually I got 2 packages, the Phish box set arrived at the same time, Omen or what? 6 CDs, $36, you cant beat it! Gonna be a great weekend, Happy Father's Day to all you fellow dads!! As far as numbers go, I've gotten low numbers the last 2 releases. 1675/13,000 for Dave's Picks 6, 1963/15,000 for May '77. Awesome packaging, my only complaint is the big scratch on CD 1 for St. Paul, the others look O.K. I don't care as long as it plays. I'm starting with the 2 Chicago shows though, those are my favorites. Take care all, I've got some rocking to do! :)))) P. S. Thanks Dave and all involved! Keep 'em coming!! P.S.S. As I'm listening to 5/12 as I write this, sound is freakin' awesome!!!!

Wow, I’m still very glad I’m a Deadhead, box # 2838 arrived save and sound in Tampa this week, very very impressed with the design. Being an architect, I truly appreciate the three dimensional spatial, well thought out graphic design, with everything tied together, kind of like May ’77, just exactly perfect. It is very special and hopefully we don’t succumb to the all digital realm; this box set truly is a piece of art. I was young and fortunate to see the New Haven show a week before the start of this box set and then the tour finale in Hartford. There really is no let down from the grand triad, Boston, Cornell & Buffalo, (hopefully someday officially released), with the St. Paul stop, (also met her accidently in St. Paul in ’82). St. Paul is strong, powerful, and as well executed as every other May ’77 show I have heard and that’s just the first of five. Praise be the powers that keep this stuff coming, keep up the great work. Thank you.

The Shows from just before The "Famous" Barton Hall on 5-8-77 to after the Hollywood Sportatorium "The Barton Killer" 5-22-77 are all inclusively part of the most epic, amazing run in the band's history. Yeah, there are great shows, magnificent tours, and incredible tunes and jams out of just about every era, but May 77 has my heart. I was able to do the Atlanta, Lakeland, Hollywood part of that tour, selling merchandise (wink, wink, nod, nod, cough) and now I can experience the shows that came the 5 nights before. An outstanding job guys. I'm loving it.

P.S. I waited for the downloads, saved $40, don't need all that fancy stuff gathering dust on the shelf. The download itself went very smoothly with no problems. Traders Little Helper turns them into wav files to burn to disk using Nero. Got the flac copy, a wav copy, CD copy, and loading them into my iPod. I think this show is safe!!!!

So what happened to the rap about "I need a scrip man!" "This man is too fast he needs four hundred and fifty" part of the rap on 5/13 before Music Never Stopped?
And that's my only complaint. The box set is outstanding! But was there a conscious edit here or tape flaw?

Mine just showed up. Four tracks into May 11th and I'm blown away by the sound! I wasn't fortunate enough to ever see them live (these shows are older than me by a few months) but this is by far the closest I've come to feeling like I'm there. Almost didn't pull the trigger on this one because of a baby on the way but so glad I did. Going to be a good weekend.

WOW! Just got mine from UPS... Had to wait an extra day 'cause I missed the delivery yesterday. Boy, that was a hard day to wait. Got home from work today, and popped in disc 1 from May 11, 1977, and HOLY COW! I have to use swear words to describe how GOOD this sounds: F-ing OUTSTANDING! You can truly hear every detail in GORGEOUS, RICH, dare I say, SUMPTUOUS, sound. A feast for the ears.

I am thoroughly impressed by this release -- the sound, the playing, and man, that artwork is simply that, a work of art. i am going to take my time and enjoy this release nice and slow. Hope everyone else gets theirs soon.

But customer service says they know nothing about a refund. I would like to clear this up so I can order a physical box set while there are a few left.

Edit: They finally came through and now I placed an order for the psychical box set. This was the first time I waited for the downloads, because I don't listen to CDs anymore. In fact, I don't have a CD player, but I guess I will borrow a friend's PC so I can rip these myself.

Dead.net, please get the download situation and make it a priority. CDs are on the way out and downloads have taken over. Include proper tagging and pdf scans of the artwork and you have a product that is almost pure profit.

mayormarion, we're showing that your refund for the download went through as of Tuesday June 11. If for some reason you have not received it, please contact customer service, as they will be glad to make sure that you do. Thank you.

Now that is a legit gripe, mayor. I hope they fix the untagged tracks in the near future and make this right for you. Getting the 111 tracks in order would be a pain-- "OK, this sounds like the 5/12 Estimated...." As I wrote, I am waiting on downloading-- hopefully they get the glitches out.

i have not yet listened to any of the discs. they all imported into iTunes without fail. however, the last disc in my Tuscaloosa book slides around, because they did not glue the seams together. its not a huge deal, but i can't imagine i'm the only one to experience this issue.

The sound quality on this set is excellent. Ditto the performances. The artwork is cool, and a nice change of pace. The cd sleeves are by FAR the best paper holders I've seen. A great improvement over all other GD releases that I have. If they re-released all the E72 sleeves with this new and improved version, I'd buy 'em.

My only gripe is the odd sizing. I can live with the odd sized exterior box and booklet, but it's nice to have the actual musical content packaged in a conventional size so the discs can be stored on regular old cd shelves (like the E72 box). The packaging on these various releases is cool and all, but not particularly functional once the novelty wears off. My vote is for the 11/73 and 6/77 format -- a box, enough surface space for cool artwork and booklets, and entirely functional.

Well, I've only been listening since last night, but I'm mightily impressed. I started with the U of A show, since I just got back from visiting my Mom, there. What an excellent show. Garcia's jamming on Wharf Rat, in particular, is sublime. I guess I haven't listened to a whole lot of 5/77 before (beyond Cornell, obviously), because I was floored by how "on" the band sounds throughout these shows. I'm more of a 1969 or 1973 lover of 30+ minute Dark Stars and Other Ones. But it's really good to hear these releases in such good quality sound. Thanks to GDM for bringing us more great stuff from the Vault.

and I started with the 1st show. Unlike some I had never heard this before and I must say I am mightily impressed-the playing by the band is amazing and the mix and sound quality are wonderful. Betty said she wanted to put you in the middle of the band and she sure did. The sound is detailed also with every nuance there. I like the quirky approach to the box art-this is certainly, to my eyes, new art territory which moves away from the usual cliches. very cool! I haven't read the book yet as i was multitasking while I listened but a glance at revealed what looks to be a promising take on all this. Happy to have some notes in there by the inestimable Blair Jackson-I miss his input to this forum. Hey stop the crankiness-this is mana from GD heaven. May they continue to put this level of attention to detail into these releases for the fans. Next on the radar-Jerry Garcia Live, Vol 2, with Bela Fleck-I can't wait for this either.

I've never gotten a low number, even though I've ordered just about every limited set on day 1.

As for shipping, I'm in the UK, and DHL shows mine being in Des Plaines, Il, since 6/6. I got an email on the 11th saying it was shipped. I hope I'll get it; I still haven't gotten Dave's Picks 6, following a messy kerfuffle where UPS asked me to pay twice the cost of the discs in "duties" and other fees. I refused, it was sent back, then reshipped by "normal" mail, but I'm still waiting. Sigh.

You know, if anyone from Rhino is reading, you have a UK subsidiary, and you could ship to the EU much more easily by sending stuff en masse to the UK, then shipping from there. It'd be cheaper for use in terms of duties, and it'd probably cost you less to ship that way. Just saying...

Newsletter

Get the latest news on Grateful Dead releases and more straight to your inbox.

Signup!

By submitting your email address you acknowledge and agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and are okay with receiving news, updates, special offers and occasional marketing messages from us and our affiliates.